A Future so Changed
by Lady Dawson
Summary: Chris returns to the future in his future body after he dies with no memory of the new future. Abandoned.
1. Chris's Return

**A Future so Changed**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Chris's Return

"I'm here now," Chris could hear his father saying as his strength was drained out of him. "You can—hold on, okay? Hold on, hold on. I'm here now, you can hold on, okay? Don't give up, okay?"

Chris blinked at his father, giving him a small nod. "You either," he said with what little strength he had. As he said those last words, he could feel his life leaving his body and then his spirit detaching from it. Looking down, he saw his body fading away and then he was floating up and away.

At least, at first. One minute, it seemed as though he were floating towards something bright and peaceful and then the next, he was yanked from that peaceful place and shoved into a tight hole, being thrust through it. Chris tried to yell, but it seemed as he had no voice.

And then suddenly it was over, it was as though he had landed somewhere very abruptly. He lay where he was for a minute, trying to figure out where he was. As he strained his ears, he could hear people talking downstairs and laughter.

With a groan, Chris opened his eyes and pushed himself up off of the bed he was lying on, taking a look around. To his uttermost shock, he saw that he was in his old room at the manor. The room that had been his in his future, before everything had been torn apart. "What's going on?" he muttered as he got up and peered outside.

Chris had to blink and take a second look because the entire city seemed to have changed from the nightmare that he had known it to be in his time to the one that he had grown used to in the past. But he couldn't be in the past, could he? Not when he was in his own room, with his stuff cluttered everywhere.

The door opened and a familiar female voice said, "Chris, you'd better get downstairs, your mom's on her last nerves down there."

Chris whirled around, his heart leaping into his throat as he stared at the young woman in front of him. She was opening some drawers, looking for something, her light brown wavy hair falling into her face. Impatiently, she shoved it out of her face, revealing vivid blue-grey eyes.

"What did you do with those invitations that we ordered, anyway?" she asked him, looking up at him at last. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she was instantly at his side. "Chris, are you okay?" she wanted to know. "You've gone all pale; you look like you just saw a ghost."

"You're not too far off, Kathryn," Chris croaked, barely able to speak from shock and astonishment.

Kathryn Lennox stared at him, frowning slightly. Chris was having trouble breathing. The last time that he'd seen his first love, she had been lying in his arms, dying. Kathryn and Chris had met when he'd been forced to leave the manor, looking for a place to stay. She had brought him into her house and they had fallen in love. They had formed the Resistance together and worked together against Wyatt . . . until Kathryn had been killed in a crossfire. Before she had died, she had made him promise to find love again, to find some happiness for himself.

At the time, Chris had wanted to scream at her for it. How could she tell him such a thing, when it was her that was in trouble? But eventually, he understood the truth: she had wanted him to keep going, even though she wasn't there to help him.

And now . . . seeing her standing before him, looking so alive, was more than he could handle. Feeling her touch against him . . .

"Chris, what are you talking about?" she asked him. Concern was etched into her features, her pretty face drawn with worry. She was always worrying about him and never worrying about herself. Taking his hand into hers, she asked him again, "Are you okay?"

Letting out a slow breath, Chris tried to calm his panicking heart. "Yeah," he said softly, realising the truth of those words. He was okay, better than he had been in the longest time. "I'm all right." Kathryn looked at him sceptically, not believing him. "I promise, Kate," he said. "I'm all right." He gave her a reassuring smile.

Kathryn frowned, but let it go. "All right," she said sceptically. "Do you know where you put the invitations at?" she repeated her earlier question. She walked over to the drawer and started searching through it.

"Sorry, no," Chris said truthfully. _Invitations for what?!_ he wanted to scream at her, but tried to stay calm. After all, this wasn't her fault. Besides, he was glad and ecstatic to see her alive again.

Suppressing a sigh, Kathryn closed the last drawer in the desk and proceeded to go over to his closet. "Well, I'll keep looking. You'd better get downstairs and help Piper. Bianca's getting on her last nerves down there," she told him.

Chris froze when he heard her words, but Kathryn didn't notice because she was still looking for the invitations. Bianca? he thought in shock. But why was Bianca here? If he had things correct, then he and Kathryn were still together and he never would have met Bianca. And she had said that his mom was downstairs . . . his mom . . . she was still alive!

Chris felt an engulfing joy radiate through him and knew that he had to get downstairs and see this future. He had to see just how much he had changed from his trip to the past.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me," he heard himself saying. Kathryn smiled at him, nodding as she continued searching through the closet for the missing invitations. Chris tried to pull himself together as he exited his room and headed downstairs.

The first thing that he noticed was that the entire house was decorated. There were streamers from floor to ceiling and bows in every corner. Looking around the first floor, he finally saw his mom sitting in the living room, talking with . . . Bianca.

"Morning, sweetie," Piper said when she saw him. She was looking harassed, he noticed, as he entered the living room and leaned against the doorframe. "You sleep okay?"

"Yeah," Chris said, wondering if he had. "It's been . . . an interesting morning."

His words caught Piper's attention and she looked at him, alert in her brown eyes. "Uh . . . Chris, why don't you help me in the kitchen?" she said, leaving no room for argument in her voice. She looked towards the phoenix. "Bianca, I'm sorry, but—"

"It's okay," Bianca said, getting up. "I have to get home anyway. See you later, little brother-in-law," she added to Chris as she walked past him. Chris would have replied if it weren't for the fact that his mouth was now stuck to the roof of his mouth.

"Brother-in-law?" he muttered, unable to comprehend this. But Bianca was already out the door and Piper was in the kitchen.

"Chris, kitchen now!" Piper barked. Almost shaking with a mixture of shock and disbelief, Chris obeyed, walking into the kitchen and feeling like he did when he was a kid and done something wrong.

Piper was at the island, mixing ingredients in a bowl when he entered. "Okay, what's going on?" she demanded, looking up at him. "Come on, Chris, I can clearly see that something's going on."

"Mom, trust me I am just as confused as you at what's going on," Chris said truthfully. "That's kind of the problem."

"What do you mean, honey?" Piper asked, her tone dropping a few levels. "Chris, what happened? Did you and Kathryn have a fight or something?"

"No." Chris shook his head, dropping down into a chair and trying very hard to explode onto her. "No, what's wrong is that I don't know what's going on, two of my dead girlfriends are alive, and one of them just called me her brother-in-law!"

Suddenly awareness flew into Piper's eyes and she dropped the bowl onto the counter, coming around to look at Chris. She had a shocked look on her face. "Chris?" she whispered. "Are you telling me that—"

"I'm the Chris from the other timeline, yeah," Chris agreed, looking up at her. "And I don't have any idea what's going on here."


	2. Futures Collided

**A Future so Changed**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Futures Collided

Piper gazed at her son in a mixture of astonishment and love, relieved that the Chris that she had known and loved all those years ago didn't suffer the horrible fate that they had all believed him to be. He was all right, he was safe. He had gone back to the future after all.

"Oh, Chris," she whispered, reaching out and touching his cheek tenderly. "Oh, my baby . . . you're safe."

"Mom . . ." Chris's face scrunched up and he pulled her into a hug, holding onto her tightly. "I'm _so_ glad you're okay." Piper smiled as she remembered what he had told her twenty-three years ago, about her upcoming death.

Stroking her son's dark hair gently, Piper waited until he was ready to let her go to start asking questions. "We have to get your father out of Magic School, he'll be so happy about this!" she said, looking proudly at her son.

"Why don't you just call him?"

His mother laughed. "Long story, sweetie," she explained. "But your dad's mortal now. He gave up being an Elder when you were less than a year old. He's working at Magic School now, as the headmaster."

Chris's green eyes were wide with amazement as he absorbed this information. "And Wyatt?" he asked anxiously. "He's okay, isn't he? I mean, we stopped Gideon from traumatising him?"

"Yeah, don't worry about that, your brother's fine. He—" Piper suddenly stopped short, suddenly sombre. She bit her lip fretfully, looking at her youngest son anxiously. Chris had the feeling he knew what was going through her mind, though.

"Mom, I know about Bianca, all right? She just called me her brother-in-law, remember?" He sighed. "She and Wyatt got married?"

"No, they're about to in a few days," Piper answered with a sigh. She reached out and rubbed his arm gently. "I'm sorry, honey."

"Don't." Chris shook his head. "It's okay, Mom. I haven't been in love with her since she forced me back to the future." Piper stared at him, not believing him. "Really. I'm just so glad that you and Kathryn are both still alive."

Relief surged through Piper's face. "You knew her in your future, then?" she asked. Chris nodded, a grin spreading across his face. "How good of friends were you?" she asked.

"We dated, actually," he admitted. "After I was forced out of the manor, she took me in and we fell in love. But she died when we were seventeen in a crossfire." Chris closed his eyes, trying to block out the image of a dying Kathryn in his mind.

"Chris, there's something that you should know," Piper said suddenly. He opened his eyes, looking at his mom. "Well . . . did Kathryn say anything when you talked to her?"

"Just that she couldn't find some invitations," Chris answered, nonplussed. "Obviously I didn't know what she was talking about, so . . ." His green gaze met his mom's brown one. "Mom, what was she talking about? What are the invitations for?"

Piper hesitated, not sure whether she should be the one to tell him this. "For . . . you guys' wedding," she answered softly. Chris's eyes widened with surprise and shock. "We have to tell her, Chris, as soon as possible. But first things first, we have to talk to your dad."

"Right," Chris said, nodding. "I'll get him." Without a second thought, he orbed out, sensing his dad in the headmaster's office. Immediately, he orbed in and Leo looked up.

He looked so different in this reality, Chris thought as he saw his dad. This side of Leo seemed so much older and a lot greyer than either of the Leos that he was used to.

"Chris? What are you doing here? Is your mom all right?" he asked, worry etched into his features.

"Yeah, she's fine, don't worry," Chris said quickly, not wanting to alarm his dad. "But she—we—need you home now. There's some stuff we need to talk about."

Leo frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Chris, what's going on?"

"Long story short?" Chris offered. "I'm the Chris from the other future." Leo's mouth dropped open at his statement. "And I don't have any memory of this side of me, so . . ."

"You're . . . what?"

"It's a long story," Chris said with a sigh. "Can we please go talk with Mom so that I don't have to explain this fifty times?" he asked. Leo's mouth opened and closed a few times before he grasped Chris's hand, who looked down, not used to his father not being a Whitelighter or an Elder, and orbed them both out.

Piper was pouring tea into cups as they orbed into the kitchen. "I had the feeling we're going to need this," she said with a sigh, handing a cup to each of the men. "All right, sit down and let's try and figure this out. So you don't have any memory of this life, right?"

"Nope," Chris sighed, running his hand through his hair. "So, what's happened in this reality? Did Phoebe and Paige get married and have kids? Did you guys get back together? I want to know how much changed!"

"Okay, sweetie, calm down," Piper ordered. "Yes, they got married. Phoebe married a cupid named Coop and they have three girls, Prue, Penny, and Patience." Chris nodded; at least Phoebe's future didn't change. She and Coop had really loved each other and their girls. "Paige is married to a mortal named Henry Mitchell."

"And they've got three kids too? Henry Jr. and the twins, Sam and Patty?" Chris asked.

Piper nodded, a smile crossing her face. "That happened in your future, too?" she asked. Chris nodded. "Okay, well, your dad and I got back together and have you, Wyatt, and Melinda—"

"Melinda?" Chris interrupted, frowning slightly. "Wait a second, who's Melinda?"

Both Piper and Leo looked extremely surprised by the question. "Your little sister," Leo told him. Chris's jaw dropped open. "She's seventeen, still in high school." He paused. "So, what exactly happened? I mean, after you . . . vanished . . ." His father's voice shook slightly, obviously remembering when he had died.

"I'm not exactly sure," Chris admitted, still reeling from the fact that most of his dead family members were still alive and that he was now engaged to his dead girlfriend. "All I know is that after I died, I somehow ended up here. I just wish that I had some memory of what's been happening and how different it was from my life."

Piper took his hand into hers. "Don't worry, Chris, we'll help you," she told him. Chris smiled gratefully. "But first we're going to have to explain things to everybody."

"Don't they know about the other future?" Chris asked. "About what happened twenty-three years ago?"

"Not exactly," Leo said quietly. "Obviously Wyatt knows and your sister and cousins know that an Elder tried to traumatise him when he was a baby, but they don't know the exact details of what happened."

"What about Kathryn?"

His parents looked at each other and Chris guessed the answer from that gesture. "No," he answered himself. He shook his head. "So I'm gonna have to explain to her about the other timeline and how I'm not the Chris that she fell in love with."

"No," Piper said warily. "We'll do that, if you can tell your brother about it. It'll probably be better coming from us, anyway. Then later, you should probably tell her what happened to her in the other timeline."

Chris nodded. "Thanks, guys," he said as he heard Kathryn start to climb down the stairs. "I'll go talk to Wyatt."

Giving his mom a kiss on the cheek and clasping his dad on the back, Chris orbed out, heading towards his brother's apartment. "Hey, Chris," Wyatt said with a grin the moment he orbed in. Chris looked relieved as he saw his brother. The firstborn son had completely changed, just by looking at him. The clothes he was wearing were light coloured instead of black, his long blond hair had been trimmed short, and instead of the cold, unfeeling eyes that Chris was used to, he saw love and appreciation as Wyatt looked at his younger brother. "What's going on?"

"Wy, we need to talk," Chris told him.

--

Kathryn finally retrieved the invitations, finally locating them in the back of Chris's closet, underneath his sports bag. Shaking her head, Kathryn headed out of her fiancé's room with the box in hand, nearly running into his sister on the way out.

"You might want to wait a few minutes before you go downstairs," Melinda advised the older witch. "Chris is having an argument with Mom and Dad. Actually, not so much of an argument, just a discussion. A really, really, really bizarre discussion. They keep talking about time travel and other future and stuff like that."

"Any idea what that's all about?" Kathryn wanted to know, frowning slightly. "'Cause Chris was acting weird a little while ago. He was looking at me like I was a ghost or something. Although in this house, it's not really that strange," she added as an afterthought. "Is something going on with Chris that I don't know about?"

"Dunno," Melinda said with a shrug. "I'm gonna head over to Aunt Phoebe's, all right? Tell Mom." She headed into her own room, slipped out the window, and climbed down the tree in front of it. Kathryn watched her until she saw the younger girl drop down onto the ground.

Kathryn shook her head before she headed into her room. Since she and Chris had gotten engaged, Piper had insisted on her moving into the house, giving her Wyatt's old room. The eldest son had moved out after he got engaged to Bianca, living with his fiancee across town.

Opening her drawer, she recovered her address book along with the list of names that she and Chris had decided on inviting to the wedding. Mostly, it was just family, with a couple of friends thrown in. Chris's aunts, uncles, and cousins, his grandfather, along with his best friend Drew. Her brother Jesse and niece Marian, her Uncle Scott, and Jesse's friends, George and Aggie.

Opening up the box of invitations, Kathryn traced her fingers happily at the gold lettering written upon one.

_You are invited to celebrate_

_the wedding of_

_Christopher Halliwell,_

_son of Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt,_

_and Kathryn Lennox,_

_daughter of Marian and Peter Lennox._

Kathryn heard raised voices in the kitchen and frowned slightly. Melinda was right. There was definitely something going on. Without thinking twice, Kathryn got up and started heading down into the kitchen. To her surprise, Chris had vanished and her soon-to-be-parents-in-law were the only ones there, talking.

" . . . going to tell her?" Leo was saying, but he stopped Piper from answering when he saw Kathryn standing in the doorway. "Hey, Kathryn," he said warily. He and Piper gave each other looks.

"Hey," Kathryn said, suddenly feeling scared. "What's going on? Is Chris okay?" What was going on with him? If the display upstairs was any indication, then there was something wrong and now Piper and Leo were looking at her like . . . well, like they were about to tell her that her best friend died.

"Yeah, he's fine," Piper said reassuringly, "don't worry. But, um, there is something we have to tell you. It's, uh . . . it's kind of complicated and it really is a long story, so you should probably sit down for this." Kathryn hesitated. "Sweetie, you really should sit down."

"What's going on?" Kathryn asked, biting her lip absently as she took a seat across from Piper and Leo.

Piper closed her eyes for a minute, then looked at Leo. Clearly, neither of them knew where to begin. What was going on? Kathryn wondered as Leo began to speak.

"Well, it's about Chris," Leo told her. "Don't worry, he's all right, but there's something you have to know. The Chris that is with us now . . . isn't the Chris from this timeline."

Kathryn stared at him, then at Piper. "Wait a minute," she said, trying very hard to understand what he was trying to tell her. "Give me that again?"

"How much do you know about time travel?" Piper asked gently with her hands clasped in front of her.


	3. Rekindled Romance

**A Future so Changed**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: Romance Rekindled

Kathryn lay on her bed, curled up into a ball as she recollected the conversation that she'd had with Leo and Piper downstairs in the kitchen about Chris. It had taken many hours for her to finally believe what they were telling her; that the Chris that was here now was not the Chris from this timeline. He was from a different reality, one where Wyatt had been inexplicably evil.

"But then where's our Chris?" she had asked. It was a fair enough question, but nobody seemed to have an answer to that.

"Time travel is tricky, honey," Piper had told her. "I doubt that everybody has the answers to that. All we know for sure is that when Chris died in 2004, he was transported into his body in the new timeline. But it's a pretty good chance that our Chris is gone for good."

It was unthinkable to Kathryn. Her friend, lover, and soul mate, gone for good, leaving her to a place she couldn't follow?

She let out a soft sob, burying her face into the pillow, not wanting anybody to hear her crying. Why did this have to happen now, when both of them were so happy together, when everything seemed as it was going to work out?

The door opened quietly, but Kathryn was so wrapped up in her sorrows that she didn't notice. She did, however, look up when she felt the mattress descend a few inches.

"Hey," Chris said gently, noticing her tearstained cheeks and her overbright eyes. He felt horrible at being the one to have caused her the pain, but he knew that she had to be told about what had happened. Kathryn was the last person in the world next to his mom that he wanted to cause any pain. "Guess Mom and Dad told you."

Kathryn nodded, sitting up straight. She pushed her tears impatiently away, not wanting him to see her crying. "Yeah, they told me," she said. She could hear how thick her voice sounded and silently chided herself.

"I'm sorry, Kathryn." She looked up at his words and saw the regret in his green eyes. Surprisingly, she still felt the sensation that she always did when she looked into Chris Halliwell's eyes. As though she were everywhere at once. "I really am. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Didn't you?" Kathryn said quietly, her blue-grey eyes directing themselves at Chris. "You went to the past to save your brother. That's hardly not meaning to change the future." She let out a deep sigh. "I'm not mad at you, Chris. Really, I'm not."

"No?"

"No," she assured him, drawing up her knees and hugging them tightly. "I just . . . I don't know what to think about all this. I mean, I don't know whether to laugh or cry or scream. Its all just kind of surreal." She shook her head. "You don't know how much that you and I have been through just to make this work."

To her surprise, Chris reached out and touched her shoulder. "You're right, I don't know," he confessed. "But there's always a reason for everything. Which means that there's probably a reason I came to the new future."

Kathryn stared at him in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me," she told him. "Wyatt tell you to tell me that?" Chris winced slightly, but a small grin escaped from him as he nodded, trying to his amusement in his eyes. Biting her lip, Kathryn shook her head, unable to resist a small chuckle. That was the elder Halliwell brother's philosophy on anything regarding magic.

"He was just trying to help after I explained all this," Chris defended his brother. "Especially after I told him what happened in the original future."

Looking at him suspiciously, Kathryn asked slowly, "Why? What happened in the original future?"

Chris sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. Something of pain flickered behind his eyes. "Would it make you feel any better if I told you that you and I knew each other in my future?" he asked her.

"Actually, that would."

"Good. Because we did. After Mom died and I was forced out of the manor, you took me in and gave me a safe place to hide out at. Didn't take long for Wyatt to figure out where I was, though, so when I had to escape, you went with me." He smiled at her. "You gave me the courage to stand up against Wyatt, Kate. If it weren't for you, I probably never would have attempted to change the past. We fell in love. To be honest, I think that I knew from the moment that I met you that you were the person I wanted to spent my entire life with."

Kathryn started to relax at his words. That sounded like her Chris. And it seemed that no matter what happened, they were destined to end up together. "So what happened?" she asked. "Piper said that you were with Bianca in the other future."

"She let that slip, huh?" Chris asked, smirking. Kathryn smiled wryly. "Yeah, well . . . it probably would have been you that I got engaged to . . . if you had still been there." It took Kathryn a minute to realise what he had just said. "You were killed in a crossfire when we were seventeen."

For a minute, Kathryn didn't want to believe his words. But the pain in his green eyes as he looked at her was enough for her to realise that he wouldn't lie to her about something like this. She also remembered his reply when she said he looked like he saw a ghost. "_You're not too far off, Kathryn."_

"I died?" she whispered.

Chris nodded, looking older than his twenty-three years. He put his head into his hands, not meeting her gaze. "Yeah, on my seventeenth birthday, actually," he said bitterly. "Seemed like everything bad happened on one of my birthdays." Kathryn felt his pain as if it were her own.

"Oh, Chris," she whispered, wrapping an arm around his. Instantly, she forgot her own sorrows and was fixed only on helping his. Chris froze for a moment, as though he forgot where he was, and then he relaxed, pulling her into his arms. "I'm sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for? It's not your fault. It's Gideon's. The Elder that tried to kill Wyatt," he explained, seeing her bewildered look. "He was the one who traumatised him in my future. Gideon was the one responsible for what happened in my future."

Kathryn frowned, trying to remember where she'd heard that name. "The Elder who ran Magic School before Paige?" she asked.

"That's the one," Chris confirmed. Then he frowned slightly. "Wait a minute, Aunt Paige ran Magic School?" he asked, looking surprised.

"She did for a little while, but relinquished the post to your dad after a few months," Kathryn told him. "That never happened in your future?" Chris shook his head, pondering this. "So . . . you and I met when you were forced out of the manor?" she asked.

"Yeah," Chris said, coming out of his musings. He looked at her. "How'd we meet here?"

"You saved my life."

"I did?"

**Flashback**

_"For god's sake, Jesse!" Kathryn yelled at her brother. "You can't just have a kid and then pretend like nothing happened! Marian is your daughter and you have a responsibility to her and to yourself to take care of her!" _

_"Don't you think that I know that?" Jesse shouted at her. "But I can not do this by myself, all right? Anyway, you know what she deserves? She deserves to have two parents, not just one. It'll be better for her if she does." _

_"Last I checked, you and I had no parents and Uncle Scott raised us by himself and we turned out just fine!" Kathryn shot back. She shook her head. "I give up, okay? It's your life, do what you want. But know this, Jess, if you dump Marian off at social services, I promise you that you'll no longer be my brother. Because I won't know you anymore." _

_Before Jesse could even respond, she stormed out of the house and took off down the street. She walked out to the pier as rain soaked her through. _How dare he?_ she thought angrily._ Just because Sheryl left him doesn't mean that he can just abandon his responsibilities!What happened to everything that Uncle Scott taught us about taking responsibility for one's actions?

_Kathryn was so wrapped up in her own problems that she never noticed a demon creeping up on her from behind. The demon had conjured a fireball in his hand and was about to attack when a voice suddenly broke the silence. "Hey, look out!" _

_Whirling around, Kathryn immediately ducked as the demon launched his attack. Her rescuer tackled the demon from behind as she sent a blast of cyrokinetic energy towards the demon. _

_"Run!" her rescuer shouted at her. She ignored him, not about to leave anyone to face a demon alone. Racing towards the two, she didn't notice as another demon shimmered in behind her. _

_"Ready for more, witch?" he asked as she whirled around, grabbing a fallen branch from a nearby tree. Before he could even think about attacking, she hit him with the branch, making him double over. _

_Looking back towards the two battling each other, Kathryn was about to help her rescuer when the demon sent an energy ball towards her, hitting her dead on. The last thing that she saw before everything went black was the sound of the demon screaming. _

_Before she realised what was happening, Kathryn felt a soothing, healing sensation all around her and the pain was ebbing away. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw green eyes focused upon her. "Are you okay?" he asked her. _

_"Yeah, I think so," she said, blinking at him. She looked around for the demons, but they were gone. The only thing that marked where they'd been was a scorch mark on the pavement. "Thanks for saving my life." _

_"No problem," he said with a grin. He helped her to her feet. "I'm Chris, by way. Chris Halliwell." _

_"Kathryn Lennox," she told him with a smile. He smiled back, not releasing her hand. And Kathryn knew as she looked up into Chris Halliwell's eyes, that this was the person she was meant to spend her entire life with. They had both been fifteen years old. _

**End Flashback**

"How'd that little issue with your brother get resolved, anyway?" Chris asked after he listened to her tale with a smile on his face. He was serious now. "Did he get rid of Marian?"

Kathryn shook her head. "No, Uncle Scott managed to knock some sense into that thick head of his. Sheryl came back about a year ago, trying to get custody of her daughter, but the judge didn't think too kindly on mothers who abandon their children." She paused. "Did he get rid of her in your future?"

Chris winced. "To be honest, I really don't know. After you died, I kind of had a falling out with the Lennox family. They didn't really like me too much after that."

"Hmm, well that didn't really change with Jesse here," Kathryn said with a mischievous smile.

"What did I do here?" Chris asked in mock aggravation. "Besides save your life, anyway."

Still smiling, Kathryn answered, "Oh, let's see, you're handsome, funny, determined, and, oh yeah, you're making out with his little sister."

"Oh, yeah, that."

Kathryn smiled, looking up at him again. Whether or not he was the Chris from this timeline, he was still Chris. He would never change, in any timeline. But they still had to talk about some things. "Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do about the wedding?"


	4. Nuptials Postponed

**A Future so Changed**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Four: Nuptials Postponed

Chris let out a half-groan, leaning his head back against the bedpost. "Oh, I was _this_ close to getting away with it, wasn't I?" he wanted to know. Kathryn smiled faintly, but she was looking at him seriously. "Honestly, I don't know. Everything's . . . has just been happening so fast. I mean, it was literally this morning when I was lying on my parents' bed, dying. And now . . ." He let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair. "Kathryn, I wish I knew what to do. But . . ."

"I know." She was quiet and still, not looking at him now. The tears were still in her eyes, glistening to each eyelash. Her cheeks were tearstained and her voice shaking. But she was still the most beautiful woman that he had ever laid eyes on. "But we have to talk about this, Chris."

With a sigh, Chris sat up again, looking up at her. "When's it supposed to be, anyway?"

"About two months," Kathryn answered. "We figured that'd be enough time for people to get over Wyatt and Bianca's wedding. Theirs is in a couple of days, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Mom told me." He studied her carefully. "In case you're wondering, I don't have any feelings for her anymore. I don't think I ever did. You were always the woman on my mind whenever I was in the past. You and Mom."

Kathryn smiled. "Glad to hear that," she said dryly, blue-grey eyes a little relieved. "But Chris . . . what are we going to _do_?" Her voice was desperate. "The wedding is in _two months_. And I know that you've been through a lot today, but we need to figure out what we're gonna do. I mean . . . this completely changes _everything._"

"Yeah," Chris muttered. "Look, Kate, don't get me wrong. I want to marry you; I do. But . . . I know that while you're going to be pretty much the same girl I fell in love with in my world, there's gonna be some things that _are_ different about you."

"And there's gonna be some things about you that are different from the Chris that I fell in love with," Kathryn countered. She smiled mischievously. "But no doubt you're probably going to be the same neurotic, sarcastic, smart-aleck guy that I love."

"Oh, just ask my aunts if you want to know," Chris said with a smirk. "They'll give you the goods on me any day." Both of them chuckled. "But the point is that I want a chance to fall in love with you all over again. And I want to know the me that I am, not the other me."

Kathryn nodded, pulling her knees up underneath her chin. "So I guess the best solution is to postpone the wedding," she said with a sigh. "Until we know that we're ready."

"Sounds like a reasonable answer," Chris agreed. He bit his lip and looked at her, green eyes meeting blue-grey. "I'm sorry about this, Kathryn, I really am. I—I never wanted to hurt you like this."

"Chris, you could never purposely hurt me," Kathryn told him. She took his hand into hers. They were warm and smooth in his and he unconsciously caressed them, sending a warm and tender feeling down his spine. "I know that, any version of you wouldn't hurt me. But I want you to promise me something," she added. "That you won't hide anything from me. Not even if you're doing it to protect me, okay? I just—I need you to be honest me and to let me in. That's the only way that I'll know that we're ever going to be okay."

Chris let out a deep breath. "I promise," he said resolutely. "I'll be honest with you, okay? But there's some things that . . . that I can't talk about. Not even to you." He prayed that she understood that.

But Kathryn, as always, was understanding. "Well, if there's something like that, then just tell me that you don't want to talk about. Unless it's life threatening, Chris. To me or to you," she added on a firmer note. Her blue-grey eyes narrowed, as though daring him to argue with her, even though they both knew she was right.

"Okay," Chris said softly. He paused. "Well, I should probably go tell Mom what's going on."

"Yeah, I should probably call Jesse and Uncle Scott before they buy those non-refundable tickets," Kathryn agreed.

Chris nodded and did the last thing that she expected at that given moment. He leaned over and kissed her tenderly on the lips. Kathryn was surprised, but not displeased as she kissed him back.

When they broke apart, she still felt all tingly and he smiled. "You don't know how long I've waited to do that again," he told her. Before she could reply, he got up off the bed. "Good night, Kate."

"Good night, Chris," she said softly, still feeling tingly as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

With a sigh, she glanced at the clock. It was midnight, but it was about two o'clock for her uncle. He'd probably still be up, she decided as she speed dialled on her cell. Her uncle worked late and when he didn't, he was usually baby-sitting for Jesse.

Her uncle picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, Uncle Scott, it's Kathryn," she said into the phone.

--

"The boy has returned," a demon said to his master. "Christopher has been reborn into his other self without any memories of the new timeline. Now is the time. We have to bring him back before he sires the Lennox witch with his child."

"Patience, my friend," the master said with a small, cruel smile. "Our time will come. Christopher Halliwell is young and naïve. Not to mention, he's vulnerable. This timeline will be new to him. The child will not be brought forth until he weds her, which will not be for a time."

"With all due respect, master, but how do you know?" the demon asked nervously.

"Because, fool, he will not wed a witch that he is a near-perfect stranger of!" his master snapped, eyes flashing. The demon flinched slightly, backing away. "And Kathryn Lennox has learned the truth about her fiancé, which will only simplify matters. It will not be long before it is time to bring him here. And then we will destroy the second son of the eldest sister . . . before eliminating the Lennox witch."

"Why?"

"Well, we can't be sure that she isn't with child until a few months. By then, she'll have told the family and they will have her under protection. Piper Halliwell wouldn't let anything happen to her grandchild, especially after losing her _precious baby boy_," he added mockingly. "And after we use him to kill the Christopher and Kathryn, then we'll use him to take over the world. The world will be ruled by the Underworld, even if we have to defy the matters of physical science in order to do it."

--

"So Wyatt said that Chris came over last night," Bianca commented. "And he was acting really weird after that. He was hardly even paying attention to anything that I was saying." She looked at Kathryn, who was walking through the flower shop. "What exactly is going on?" she wanted to know.

"Uh . . . you know, Bianca, it's very complicated," Kathryn said with a small smile.

"Uh-huh. Does this complicated thing have anything to do with why the two of you have all-so-suddenly put your wedding plans on hold?" Kathryn shifted uncomfortably, but looked away. "Yeah, that's why I thought. What is going on?"

Kathryn looked at Chris's soon-to-be-sister-in-law. "It's really for Wyatt or Chris to tell you, not me," she said. "Anyway, so what do you think? Roses or lilies?"

"Yeah, maybe for yours, Kath, but not for _my_ wedding. I was thinking about tulips and mullein. It's a good combination. Good for happiness, courage, protection . . ."

"Yes, but lilies and roses are good for love, healing, protection and fertility," Kathryn pointed out with a grin. Bianca shook her head, looking amused as she walked down the aisle. "You really should have been doing this awhile back. I mean, you're getting married in two days and you're just now looking at flowers for your bouquet? I'm not even sure they can do stuff that fast, Bianca."

"Well, they might with a little help," Bianca said slyly as she picked up some tulips.

"Personal gain," Kathryn said. But she knew it was no use chiding the phoenix. Stubborn didn't even begin to describe them. Not to mention, technically, they _were_ demons. She was actually a little surprised that Piper was even condoning it, given their family's history with demons.

"It is not personal gain; it is just giving a little help to them so that my husband-to-be is not freaking out twenty-four hours before our wedding because I don't have a bouquet that matches the rest of the flowers in the manor. Not to mention, who are you to be lecturing about personal gain? You're the one who cast a spell so that your brother and fiancé wouldn't have a spat when he came to California."

"One time!" Kathryn argued. "I did that once! And anyway," she added. "That wasn't for me, that was for Chris so that he wouldn't have to be limping around on crutches for weeks because of the beating Jesse gave him."

"Uh-huh." Bianca shrugged as she paid the cashier and told him when she needed it by. "Well, that takes care of the last thing on the to-do list. So there's nothing left to do for the wedding."

"I can't believe that you're so calm about this two days before your wedding," Kathryn said dryly. "Mom used to tell me that she was a nervous wreck before her wedding to Dad." She thought wistfully of her parents. Small and graceful Marian with her long curly red hair and green eyes. Tall and rugged Peter with his dark hair and blue-grey eyes. Kathryn had been made in her father's image, although she was small, like Mother. And her brother had been tall, like Dad, but looked like Mother.

"Well, I probably could be freaking out if I wanted, but it's not my style," Bianca remarked, pulling Kathryn back into the present. "I have to get going; I'm supposed to be meeting my mom for lunch."

"All right, see you later." Kathryn started heading back to the manor as Bianca shimmered out, musing about everything that had happened since yesterday. She sighed; everything had been so perfect, as though she had been about to embark on the life she had always dreamed of. It should have occurred to her that there would be another bump in the road that hadn't been anticipated.

Feeling a drop of rain on her forehead, Kathryn glanced up, seeing the dark clouds forming overhead. She made a face; she had _thought_ that the weather forecast had predicted clear skies for today. Thunder roamed overhead as the rain started showering down.

Suppressing a sigh, she started to take off down the street, determined to get back to the manor before it started coming down. But her thoughts were still on Chris as she raced down the street, her mood as gloomy as the day had turned.


End file.
